In a surprise move on Monday, the German authorities withdrew approval for the takeover of a domestic semiconductor firm by a Chinese bidder, a deal that was set to be an emblem of a new push by Chinese companies to acquire cutting-edge technology businesses and a sign of Berlin's tolerance for such moves.

Europe needs to wake up to the fact that its best technology companies are being snapped up by overseas buyers at a rapid rate, and to decide whether its laissez-faire approach to these strategic takeovers is sensible.

German robotics maker Kuka is on the brink of agreeing to an investor agreement with Chinese bidder Midea that includes a long-term commitment to existing headquarters, factories and jobs, a source close to the negotiations said.

Siemens has no interest in becoming a white knight for German robot maker Kuka, which is the target of a 4.5 billion euro ($5.06 billion) takeover bid by Chinese home appliance maker Midea, Siemens' chief executive said.

Agic Capital, the Chinese-European private equity fund launched last year, has bought a European industrial robotics business - in the latest example of the country's push to gain access to western automation technology.

Sino King Technology, set up by Yukio Sakamoto, will be a key part of a roughly JPY800 billion (US$7 billion) project by the Chinese city of Hefei to build a plant to churn out cutting-edge semiconductors.

A group led by China Resources Holdings' semiconductor arm and Hua Capital Management has made an offer for Fairchild Semiconductor. That bid followed a November agreement with ON Semiconductor to buy Fairchild for $2.4 billion.

Chairman Zhao Weiguo also told Reuters in an interview that Tsinghua Unigroup was in talks with a US-based company involved in the chip industry. A deal could be finalised as early as the end of this month.

BOE Technology Group said August 18 that it will establish an IC fund of CNY4 billion (US$626 million). BOE invested CNY1.5 billion in the fund, along with other investors including the government-backed National IC Fund.

China's efforts to expand its reach into advanced semiconductors in the US drew fire on Capitol Hill as a key senator called on US officials to block a state-controlled firm's effort to buy an American memory chipmaker.

Sales of PCs that used Micron's memory chips dropped faster than the company expected in 2015 triggering a 50% stock plunge. That drop helped set the stage for Micron, which is known for buying other companies' chip operations, to become a target.

China's Suzhou PowerCore Technology said it would offer its own variant of the IBM Power8 microprocessor, the first chip to emerge from the program, which is known as OpenPower. The CP1, as the Chinese chip is called, is expected to be used initially by another Chinese company called Zoom Netcom in a new line of servers called RedPower.

US-listed chipmaker RDA Microelectronics said it received an US$18 per share buyout offer from China's state-owned Tsinghua Unigroup, which is funded by the Tsinghua University, marking it a second such bid in more than a month.

Former solar billionaire and Australian citizen Shi Zhengrong is being investigated by China authorities over financial dealings that may have contributed to the insolvency of the company he founded, Suntech Power.

Suntech Power Holdings has appointed Weiping Zhou, former chairman of Guolian Futures and finance department manager of government-owned investment company Wuxi Guolian Development, executive director and company president.

The China Academy of Telecommunication Research, a think tank linked to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has said that China is too reliant on Google's mobile operating system and accused the company of using its dominance to discriminate against China-based firms.

China's government has ruled that US government support to six American solar and wind power projects violates free trade rules, adding to strains between Beijing and its trading partners over renewable energy.

China's lighting suppliers producing light-emitting diodes (LED) and energy-saving products are expected to receive a huge subsidy, which experts said yesterday will speed up the industry's consolidation.

China's premier warned that growth will slow this year in the world's second-largest economy as the government seeks to overhaul the country's "unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable" development model.

The Chinese government continues to expand its clean energy production plans, to replace increasingly expensive coal power that is shutting down coal plants and causing power shortages of at least 16 GW.

China is targeting 3 gigawatts (GW) of roof-mounted solar power generating capacity by 2015 and 25GW by 2020, the China Securities Journal reported on Monday, citing a government renewable energy development plan that is likely to be unveiled soon.

As of 2013, the 10 ASEAN nations had a total of over 700 million mobile subscriptions, with the CAGR from 2003-2013 reaching 24%. This Digitimes Research Special Report analyzes the various mobile broadband markets in ASEAN and looks at the respective trends in 4G LTE development for those markets.

This Digitimes Research Special Report analyzes the strategies of key China-based major panel makers BOE, Tianma and IVO for attacking the different market segments through technology and pricing, and their relationship to local vendors Huawei, Lenovo, ZTE, Xiaomi and Coolpad.